Ex-CNB chief Ng Boon Gay pleads not guilty

By Alvina Soh, Channel NewsAsia, 12 Jun 2012

Former Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) director Ng Boon Gay has been charged with four counts of corruptly obtaining sexual favours from a woman, who was a sales manager of two IT vendors.

He allegedly breached the Prevention of Corruption Act by engaging in oral sex with Cecilia Sue Siew Nang on four occasions, between June and December 2011.

Ms Sue was the sales manager of Hitachi Data Systems from June to November 2011. She joined Oracle Corporation Singapore in December last year as its senior sales manager. Oracle told Channel NewsAsia that Ms Sue is still with the company.

In exchange, Ng would allegedly further the business interests of the two IT companies in their dealings with the CNB.

He pleaded not guilty to all four charges.

Ng is represented by Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng and Ms Melanie Ho from WongPartnership.

They felt that the charges were "very general in nature" and will be writing to the Deputy Public Prosecutor for more details.

Mr Tan asked for the case to be adjourned as he wanted the prosecution to clarify how Ng's alleged offences had helped the two companies in their business interests, and what these interests were.

He is out on a S$10,000 bail and will be back in court on June 26.

In a statement to the media, Ng's wife said that she has never doubted his professional integrity and will continue to stand by him.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) arrested 46-year-old Ng Boon Gay on December 19, 2011 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The government scholar was suspended on January 25, pending disciplinary proceedings.

Ng is the second senior government official to be charged in court in the past week for corruption.

On June 6, former civil defence force chief Peter Lim was charged with 10 counts of corruption.

Lim allegedly obtained sexual gratification from three women between May 2010 and November 2011. In return, the 52-year-old would show favour to the companies where the women are working, for IT-related tenders called by the SCDF.

Lim, also out on a S$10,000 bail, will be back in court on July 5.

* Ex-CNB chief Ng Boon Gay to claim trial
By Claire Huang, Channel NewsAsia, 19 Jul 2012

The former chief of the Central Narcotics Bureau, Ng Boon Gay, will be claiming trial to the four corruption charges he faces in the sex-for-contract case.

Ng is accused of obtaining sexual favours from Cecilia Sue Siew Nang, a sales manager of two IT vendors.

Ms Sue was the sales manager of Hitachi Data Systems from June to November 2011. She joined Oracle Corporation Singapore in December last year as its senior sales manager.

Ng's lawyers, Tan Chee Meng and Melanie Ho, said in a statement on Thursday that since the last court mention on 26 June, they have been in discussions with the Attorney-General's Chambers to get details of the charges.

Mr Tan had previously sought clarification on how Ng's alleged offences had helped to further the business interests of Ms Sue.

But on Thursday, Ng's lawyers said they have not been provided with the information requested.

So Ng will claim trial on all four charges.

Mr Tan said that he will raise the point with the trial judge that his client will be prejudiced as the charges are "too general".

He added that the charges do not state what the alleged corrupt acts were, and do not specify what business interests were involved.

In the meantime, he said he hopes to obtain some clarity on the allegations made against Ng, so that he can "properly defend the charges he faces".

The case will be mentioned on 16 August.

* Court finds Ng Boon Gay not guilty of corruption
Judge says testimony of star witness 'unsafe'; spectators applaud decision
By Tham Yuen-c And Joyce Lim, The Straits Times, 15 Feb 2013

FORMER anti-narcotics chief Ng Boon Gay was acquitted of corruption yesterday in a dramatic judgment that rejected the testimony of the key witness.

Delivering the not guilty verdict to cheers in a packed courtroom, District Judge Siva Shanmugam said it was "unsafe" to accept Ms Cecilia Sue's testimony.

The IT executive was the star prosecution witness and the woman at the centre of the charges against Mr Ng in one of Singapore's biggest corruption trials.

On hearing the court's decision, spectators - many strangers to Mr Ng - broke out in loud applause and pumped their fists in agreement.

In the first row of the public gallery, Madam Yap Yen Yen, who had sat through all 15 days of the trial while her husband was in the dock, wept with relief.

Defence lawyers Tan Chee Meng and Melanie Ho, who looked anxious throughout the hour-long court session, broke into wide smiles.

Mr Ng was slapped last June with four counts of corruption for obtaining sexual favours from Ms Sue four times in 2011 in exchange for furthering business interests of her then employers.

Clearing Mr Ng of all charges yesterday, the judge said that the prosecution had not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The judge said there was no evidence to show that Mr Ng knew Ms Sue's employer, Hitachi Data Systems, was involved in a contract that he had approved when he headed the Central Narcotics Bureau.

In another contract, the prosecution had only proven a conflict of interest. "However, not every act of conflict of interest permits the inference of corruption."

The judge also said that the trysts between the pair had clearly taken place in the context of an intimate relationship, and were not bribes.

This was clear from the objective evidence, such as text messages and long phone calls between Mr Ng and Ms Sue.

The existence of this relationship "negates the presence of any corrupt element", he ruled.

Ms Sue had vehemently denied this relationship with Mr Ng when she took the stand in September and October last year.

But the judge noted that this contradicted two different versions of the story she told the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) earlier.

"I found Ms Sue's explanations for the numerous material discrepancies to be unconvincing. The discrepancies went towards the crux of the charges," said the judge.

"Effectively, Ms Sue had been untruthful to both the Court and the law enforcement agencies."

In contrast, the judge said he found Mr Ng had testified in a forthright manner.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Ken Hwee said later that the prosecution would study the oral grounds of the decision before deciding whether to appeal.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said further disciplinary action against Mr Ng would hinge on whether there was an appeal.

The Attorney-General's Chambers said it had not decided if it would press charges against Ms Sue for corruption, or for lying in court and to the CPIB.

Speaking to The Straits Times in an exclusive interview before going to a Valentine's Day dinner with his wife and friends, Mr Ng said he was happy.

"I am looking forward to spending time with family and the many friends who stood by me during this difficult period, especially my wife Yen Yen. Her love and strength has carried me through this adversity," he said.

No proof that Ng was aware trysts were bribes: Judge
By Tham Yuen-c, The Straits Times, 15 Feb 2013

THERE was no evidence to show that former anti-narcotics chief Ng Boon Gay was aware that his trysts with Ms Cecilia Sue were bribes, District Judge Siva Shanmugam found.

His judgment clarified areas of corruption law which the defence and the prosecution had clashed over.

Even though there was a conflict of interest when Mr Ng approved one of the Central Narcotics Bureau's (CNB) contracts which involved Ms Sue's then employer, that conflict of interest did not necessarily equate to corruption, he said.

Mr Ng, 46, faced four counts of obtaining oral sex from Ms Sue, in exchange for furthering the business interests of her firms Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) and Oracle Corporation Singapore.

Yesterday, the judge dismissed the charges, saying the former top cop lacked the "guilty knowledge" that his acts were corrupt.

"Guilty knowledge" has to be established to convict him of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

During the trial, prosecutors had linked the four sexual encounters between Mr Ng and Ms Sue to two CNB contracts in which HDS was a sub-vendor.

This was even though both the defence and the prosecution had agreed that there was no impropriety in the awarding of contracts by the CNB to Ms Sue's firms. All tender processes were followed and had been overseen by an independent evaluation committee. Mr Ng was the final signatory.

That he had approved the contracts despite knowing that there was a conflict of interest proved he had "guilty knowledge", said the prosecution.

Yesterday, the judge disagreed.

For the first contract, there was no evidence to show that Mr Ng had known of HDS' involvement.

The contract had also been approved before the first instance of oral sex that the prosecution said was corruptly obtained by Mr Ng, the judge pointed out.

And even though Mr Ng had known by the time he approved a second contract that HDS was once again involved in the project, his decision not to pull out of the approval did not amount to corruption.

"Not every act of conflict of interest permits the inference of corruption. The prosecution itself has unequivocally stated that they are not equating conflict with corruption," said the judge.

Taken in the context of the intimate relationship between the two, Mr Ng's acting in conflict would not "equate to satisfying any of the elements of the offence of corruption", said the judge.

Clarifying the reading of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the judge agreed with the prosecution that Mr Ng, as a civil servant, had to be held to higher standards.

According to the law, he said, Mr Ng was presumed corrupt the moment he entered into a sexual relationship with Ms Sue, as he knew she had dealings with the Government.

That is because two of the presumption clauses in the law - Sections 8 and 9 - would have kicked in. One states that any public servant who has received gratification was considered corrupt and the other puts the onus on the public servant to prove otherwise.

Yesterday, the judge ruled that both clauses had been triggered, because Mr Ng was the head of the CNB when he received oral sex from Ms Sue, and the oral sex qualified as gratification.

But Mr Ng was acquitted, because he had successfully proven that the oral sex was not given in exchange for any favours.

Boon Gay's acquittal: No appeal

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